Mini Spring Flowers

Ahhhhhh, this yarn is giving me so many happy feels this week, it's sat there looking very inspirational in it's circular tin tray. I keep moving it around the place, I just love having it close by and in full view so it mostly sits on our dining table until we need to eat.

I spoke briefly about this new yarn in yesterdays post - it's a brand new organic cotton by Stylecraft which launched to retail at the start of last week. It really is a beautiful yarn - at first glance it looks quite thin for a DK weight but it hooks up really well on a 4mm hook. The thing I like most about it is that it's a smooth matt yarn (I'm not a fan of slippery mercerised cotton) and it's also really soft. So far I've only used it for small decorative things but I'm looking forward to making something bigger with it so that I can see what the drape is like.

There are 38 shades in total (the 36 shown above, plus black and white), and I think  the clever folks at Stylecraft have done a fantastic job with the colour range. It's the perfect combination of soft pastels and strong brights which makes it very versatile for all sorts of projects.

I picked out a palette of soft Spring pastel shades to crochet some mini flowers and leaves...

Top row :

Mauve : Fondant : Blush : Coral

Bottom row:

Cardoon : Artichoke : Peppermint : Buttermilk

↑↑ See the twiggy branch up there on the right of my mantel? I picked it up when we were out on a walk last month, it was laid on the grass verge at the side of the road and I just happened to like the look of it. The family were completely gobsmacked which surprised me as you'd think they'd be used to my strange ways by now. They just couldn't understand the appeal of a dead twig but as soon as I saw it I knew that it would be perfect for a Spring decoration. It was worth the effort of carrying it the two miles home.

I used the same little pattern that I designed for my Spring Garland - do you remember the white Hawthorne blossom I made to go in between the polyanthus flowers? This is exactly the same flower, and I just added some little leaves.

**I'll write the pattern out at the end of this blog post for you for reference**

I'd forgotten how satisfying it is to embark on a small decorative project which takes just hours to complete. I ended up making 20 flowers and leaves and loved every minute of it. The leaves were a little fiddly as they are only small, but it was such a fun thing to sit and occupy myself with yesterday afternoon.

You can see in the above photo that the leaves still have their tail ends hanging....

....these tail ends are used to stitch the leaf to the back of the flower.

I decided on a whim to add some tiny buttons to the flower centres, and when I say tiny, I really mean it! These are "micro buttons" which are only 6mm across, I have a whole tin of them left over from the long ago days when I used to make handmade greetings cards. They are made by a company called "Dress it Up", you can find little packs of them on Amazon in all sorts of colours ((see here)). For a very brief second I did consider stitching the buttons on, but quickly came to my senses and reached for the craft glue.

This morning when I woke up, the very first thing I thought was "yipppeeeee, I get to stick my flowers to the twig today!"

The thought of having this project to work on gave me such a buzz! Of course Tilly was on hand to help me throughout the whole process, whatever would I do without her sticking herself into all my business??

Attaching crochet flowers to a twiggy branch is definitely a job for a hot glue gun. I bought this one a few years ago when I wanted to stick some felt owls to twigs (you can see I have history with twiggy projects) and it is so easy to use and very, very good for super fast, strong sticking of any type of material.

It took no time at all to attach flowers to twig-ends.........

.............ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love that the colours of the flowers go so well with my little Annabel Burton canvas (a happy accident to be honest, but I'm calling it a win)

I love what I created, it's a simple idea that delivers maximum spring vibes.

I would say this is a very Attic24 style make, and I'm not sure there is much general appeal in crocheting flowers to stick to twigs? But if you feel a burning desire to make yourself a little twiggy spring something, then I'm writing the simple pattern out for you below.....

MINI SPRING FLOWER

Ch 4; sl st into 1^st ch to form a ring.

All stitches in round 1 are worked into the ring.

Round 1 : *ch 2; 1 tr; ch 2; sl st;

Repeat from * 4 more times; sl st into 1^st ch of beginning ch-2 to close the round; fasten off [5 petals]

Note : if you crochet over the tail end as you make each petal, you can give it a firm pull when you finish and close up the hole in the centre. Alternatively, you could use the magic ring method if you prefer.

MINI SPRING LEAF

Ch 4; beginning in 2nd ch from hook, work 1 dc; 1 htr ; 1 dc;

Ch 2; sl st in 2nd ch from hook to form a picot point;

Now work into the single loops of the foundation chain, as follows :

1 dc; 1 htr; 1 dc;

Sl st into the little loop formed by the turning chain; fasten off, leaving a tail end long enough to stitch the leaf to the back of the flower.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my crazy idea take shape - I've got a couple other things to work on for you in the next week or two, things that have been on my crochet to-do list for aaaaaages. And this new organic cotton is the perfect yarn for what I have in mind.

See you tomorrow :)

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Comments

[florarie cluj]

thank you the whole plenty for shop this opinion.

[Carolyn L Dietrich]

Love the twig with flowers! Beautiful!

[Miss Daisy]

Thank you , will be making some to go on my twigs that I also collect. I also collect branches, limbs and sticks. Have a branch in my living room that I painted blue have nautical pictures on the limbs , have a nautical theme I'm working on for living room. Enjoy your day and tell your family hi for me.

[Angela Reed]

So pretty, I love it.

[Esther]

I absolutely love the look of the cotton and the colours. I have never crocheted anything in cotton before so I am excitingly anticipating something gorgeous to read about and hopefully crochet soon. I think you cheer us all up Lucy as we look forward to sharing your day! Thanks.XX

[Sally-Jane]

I adore this! It's so pretty and gorgeous! Suvh a lovely idea that really brightens up your fireplace 💕

[April]

that yarn looks so appealing and I absolutely love your twig design!

[Nora McGrann]

Just love the new twig decor, Lucy

The colours are beautiful .....you give us do many creative ideas....

Thanking you..HAPPY SPRINGTIME 🌷🌷🌷🌷

Nora 🥀

[Lily Veenendaal]

Super, absolutely lovely!!

[Susannah]

Lucy, that branch is an architectural beauty, don't let anyone tell you otherwise :) and it looks so cheerful with your pretty flowers. The new cotton yarn looks great. Have you seen the jumper pattern, Gigi jumper, on Ravelry? I'll bet this yarn would be perfect for a fun spring/summer top. Have a lovely weekend!

[Alie van Schouwenburg]

Lovely decoration for Easter. You have a beautiful painting on the right side of your photos. Can you tell me who the artist is?

[Jane McLellan]

The cotton yarn looks absolutely gorgeous and I love what you’ve done with it!

[Jane Potthoff]

You absolutely brighten my day, whatever your mood, whatever your project, wherever you walk and always with coffee :) thank you

[Line]

A beautiful, inexpensive, mind absorbing and very rewarding activity. Thank you for sharing.

[DeAnna Reames]

Love your little flowers. Can't wait to do some myself.

[Tineke]

It came really cute, Lucy. Love how it all comes together in a pastel wave of cuteness on your mantlepiece.Gorgeous yarn. I like the muted tone and soft feeling.

[Linda Rattie]

Beautiful! What a great idea. You are going to have to show that family a picture of your ingenuity.😀

[LolaJoJo]

My husband has just come home with a present for me, some curly Hazel and the first thing I thought was, this needs some Lucy flowers. Thanks so much for this little pattern, it will be as perfect for my twigs as it was for yours.

[Marianne]

Very nice flowers. I will make a few. Thank you

[Gill Compigne-Leaney]

Super flowers Lucy, absolutely right for your mantel, so clever.xx

[[email protected]]

I’m going on a twig hunt, I’m not scared, I’m going to find a twiggy one (with apologies to Michael Rosen). Thank you for the inspiration, I’ve always eyed up twigs and branches on walks but it’s hard to find the right one. I do have a lovely long sea smoothed stick, Gandalf style, found on a Cornish beach. The twig hunt will take longer than the pretty flowers.

[Alice]

I cant wait to try this yarn! It looks lovely!! Amazing idea,it looks so springy and pretty. My mum has done something similar with a big branch from the garden and is covering it with felt leaves, as she loves to do felt crafts, and shes asked me to do some crochet flowers for it, so these are perfect! So Your not alone haha.

[Sheelagh Franklin]

Oh my! I love your new twig display, very inspiring! I think that I will be on the look for twigs to do this very soon.
Thanks for your lovey and inspiring blog as ever xxx

[Liz]

I just love that and will be on the hunt for a twig on today’s walk😀 Thank you💕

[Suzanne Corrado]

Love, love, love your twig 💕 simple beauty 💕